WiseGal

Hubble Extreme Deep Field. Every spot in this image is a galaxy. Credit NASA. Consider the vastness of the Universe. It stretches to infinity, containing countless superclusters of billions of galaxies. Somewhere in that ever expanding, boundless universe, is a trifle called the Milky Way galaxy. In that galaxy, is a diminutive fleck we call the Sun. And revolving around that Sun is an indistinct scintilla of a grain called Earth, on which, billions of minuscule human beings live but for a brief period of time before being extinguished from existence, having had no bearing on the universe at large. For all anyone knows, we never even existed at all.

Writer's Note: I know I fell off the bandwagon in failing to update, but I had a trying couple of weeks. I decided to just post this one already. I've had it sitting on my computer for several weeks and have been unable to really tie up the loose ends. My apologies. I'll be working on better content soon. Here's to starting anew for 2020! People often ask me why I want to help criminal defendants. It’s really easy for me to get up on my high horse and remind them of what Jesus said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Matt 9:12. The truth is, I wish I could love them more. I can feel where my capacity for love reaches its limit. Sometimes I don’t have answers for them. I can’t snap my fingers and give them what they desperately want: to see their children, to see their loved ones, to be able to live a truly free life.

The star of Bethlehem is dense with meaning. It inspires wonder and mystery. But most of all, as illuminated as it was, it sought only to draw attention to the light of Christ.

I believe in a God of love. I believe in the Catholic Church. But I also believe that Jesus is bigger than any box we try to put Him in. I believe when He makes His Second Coming, He will challenge the beliefs of the devout most of all, who have such a particular idea of who He is. This article has been a struggle to write. I’ve been reflecting a great deal on what I have been blind to, what I can learn from others’ blindness, and whether certainty of anything is truly achievable this side of Heaven. But mostly, I’ve come to the conclusion that there can be no conclusions. I guess that’s where faith comes into play, though I’ve always resented when people would make such an assertion. “If you know for sure, then it’s not faith,” they would say. “So? Maybe it’s not faith,” I would respond, “Mary, for example, would have to know the truth about Christianity one way or another.” While this is true, one of the paradoxes of Mary’s unique role in salvation history is that even in...

As I’ve grown as a parent, I’ve also grown as a child. A child of the one Holy Father. By giving us the opportunity to be parents, He offers us a glimpse of His own infinite love that He has for each of us. On the morning of April 5, 2015, Easter Sunday, my first child was born. My sacrifice for lent had new meaning that year. Everyone can acknowledge that pregnancy is far from easy. A pregnant woman can be nauseated, irritable, or barely able to sleep. She can seldom focus. She doesn’t necessarily feel as beautiful as others may tell her. But in the midst of all that discomfort and suffering, she’s glowing. We all see it. Even while she’s in pain, there is joy because she knows that it will all be worth it to hold the baby in her arms.